Pirate Flags – Jolly Roger, Skull & Crossbones, Bunting & Hand Flags

Pirate flags: the Jolly Roger and the captains’ colours

The pirate flag everyone knows, a white skull over crossed bones on black, is the Jolly Roger, and the real thing was in use by about 1700: the earliest written record is of the French pirate Emanuel Wynn flying a skull, crossbones and hourglass off the Cape Verde islands in that year. Black meant “surrender and we spare you”; a red flag meant no quarter, which is where the name may come from, the French joli rouge. Each captain had his own version. Edward Teach, Blackbeard, flew a horned skeleton spearing a bleeding heart; Calico Jack Rackham put a skull over two crossed cutlasses, the design most films now use; and the plain skull and crossbones we sell most of is closest to the flags of Edward England and Sam Bellamy. All are printed through on woven polyester so the skull shows the right way round from both sides.

Parties, boats, campsites and Talk Like a Pirate Day

Most pirate flags go to children’s parties, school pirate days and World Book Day, where a cartoon pirate boy or pirate girl and a run of pirate bandana bunting turn a garden into a ship. The rest fly from narrowboats, yachts, beach huts, campervans and festival tents, from treehouses and garden pubs, and from boats and rugby clubs on International Talk Like a Pirate Day, 19 September. Adult designs such as Time Flies When You Have Rum, Surrender the Booty and Have a Nice Day Matey are the bar and stag-weekend favourites, and the Pink Pirate and Rainbow Pirate flags are the ones for a hen do or a Pride float.

Which size pirate flag?

The 5ft x 3ft Jolly Roger is the party and garden size, at home on a telescopic pole or a boat’s stern staff. A treehouse, bedroom wall, dinghy or campervan pole takes 3ft x 2ft; a pub flagpole or festival camp takes 8ft x 5ft; a hand pole, bike or kayak takes 20x12in. Every skull-and-crossbones flag hoists by a sewn header with brass eyelets; in DuraFlag, the main pirate designs take rope-and-toggle or clips.

Flagtex or DuraFlag?

For a party, a holiday or one season on the boat, Flagtex, the printed woven-polyester grade, is all a pirate flag needs. A Jolly Roger left up all year on a pub, a garden pole or a sailing club deserves DuraFlag, whose heavier knitted cloth has double-stitched hems and a reinforced header. Get your order in before 2pm and the crew’s flags sail the same day; the whole pirate range is stocked in and dispatched from our Stoke-on-Trent warehouse.

Pirate bunting

Skull and crossbones bunting puts the Jolly Roger on every pennant, rectangle or triangle, from 3m to 20m plus a giant-rectangle length for a hall, printed on weatherproof polyester and sewn to a strong tape. Pirate bandana bunting, red-eyes bunting, red skull bunting and Yo Ho Ho bunting mix several designs along one run for a party or pub garden.

Hand flags, table flags, windsocks and bandanas

One for each guest: pirate hand flags on wooden sticks at 9x6in and 18x12in, plus bandana, red skull and Yo Ho Ho versions. The 6x4in skull and crossbones table flag with base sits on a party table or a pub bar, the pirate windsock flies from a campsite pole or a boat, and the skull and crossbones bandana kits out the crew. Plain black flags and other novelty designs are in plain colours and everything else.

Pirate flag FAQs

Popular in this collection

• Skull and Crossbones Flag (3x2 to 8x5ft)from £6.99
• Jack Rackham Flagfrom £6.99
• Pink Pirate Flagfrom £6.99
• Skull and Crossbones Buntingfrom £9.98
• Pirate Hand Flagsfrom £5.99
• Skull and Crossbones Windsock£9.99